The Lost Colony

Details

Synopsis

I’ve waited a long time for young criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl to meet his match. Finally, it’s happened.

A second juvenile genius has discovered that fairies do exist, and she is determined to capture one for scientific study. And not just any fairy. The newcomer intends to trap a demon – the most human-hating species unknown to man.

But there are more than two players in this deadly game. Holly Short has been enlisted by Section 8, a covert division of the Lower Elements Police, to find out just what her old accomplice Artemis is up to. And there is also a mysterious assassin, Billy Kong, who will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Only an ancient time spell seperates the demons from mankind – and Artemis must prevent it from unravelling. If he fails, the bloodthirsty tribe will relaunch their quest to wipe every human from the planet. Because that’s what demons live to do.

There can only be one winner – and this time it might not be Artemis Fowl.

Take nothing for granted.

Your time-travelling correspondent,
Eoin Colfer

Inside the book, there is another short blurb:

Artemis Fowl is a child prodigy from Ireland who has dedicated his brilliant mind to criminal activities. When Artemis discovers that there is a fairy civilisation below ground, he sees it as a golden opportunity. Now there is a whole new species to exploit with his ingenious schemes. But Artemis doesn’t know as much as he thinks about the fairy People. And what he doesn’t know could hurt him…

Build-Up Releases

This section contains all of the descriptions we were given of the book, in the order they were released before the book itself actually came out. The first description we received of the fifth book in the series was as follows:

“It’s about an eighth family of fairies who, when humans drove the fairies underground, they decided they didn’t want to go, so they lifted their island out of time. Now the spell is wearing off, and they’re coming back. They’re popping up all over the world for a few seconds. Artemis Fowl is the only one who can predict, and he’s waiting for them.”

More information has now been released regarding the plot of this book:

“Ten millennia ago, the fairy people were defeated in a great battle with mankind, forcing them to live underground. Only the eighth family of fairies remained undefeated: the demons. But now one demon has discovered the secrets of the fairy world – if humans get hold of this information, the fairies are in BIG trouble. Only one person can prevent this disaster – teenage criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl.”

A larger synopsis then became available, with the re-release of the current four books in the series.

“Ten thousand years ago, humans and fairies fought a great battle for the magical island of Ireland. When it became clear to the fairy families that they could never win, they decided to move their civilisation underground and keep themselves hidden from the humans. All the fairy families agreed on this, except the eighth family, the demons.

The demons planned to lift their small island out of time until they had regrouped and were ready to wage war on the humans once more. However, the time spell went wrong, and the island of Hybras was catapulted into Limbo, where it has remained for ten thousand years.

Now, the tainted time spell is deteriorating and demons are being sucked back into the present space and time. The Fairy Council are naturally concerned about this and are monitoring any materialisations. When the spell’s deterioration accelerates, the materialisations become unpredictable. Even the fairy scientists cannot figure out where the next demon will pop up.

But someone can. Artemis Fowl, the teenage criminal mastermind, has solved temporal equations that no normal human should be intelligent enough to understand. But Artemis Fowl is no normal human.

So when a confused and frightened demon pops up in a Sicilian theatre, Artemis Fowl is there to meet him. Unfortunately, he is not the only one. A second, mysterious party has also solved the temporal equations, and manages to abduct the demon before Artemis can secure him.

This is a disaster for the fairy People, because this demon was no ordinary fairy. He was the last demon warlock, and as such held the key to the survival of the entire demon race.

It is up to Artemis and his old comrade Captain Holly Short to track down the missing demon and rescue him before the time spell dissolves completely and the lost demon colony returns violently to Earth.”

From the official UK Artemis Fowl website, we now have this blurb as well:

“A second juvenile genius has discovered that fairies do exist, and she is determined to capture one for scientific study: a demon – the most human-hating species known to man. Only an ancient time spell separates the demons from mankind – and Artemis must prevent it from unravelling or the bloodthirsty tribe will relaunch their quest to wipe every human from the planet.

There can be only one winner – and this time it might not be Artemis Fowl.”